Max

Maximus had to be put to sleep Friday.  He was 14.  His health had fallen off badly in the past couple of weeks--Mom thinks it was possible he had a stroke.  He was a good dog.  There have been a lot more tears the past couple of days than I'd have thought.  Given my work schedule, and the fact I live in an apartment, I don't have a dog.  Max was my folks' dog.  But, I thought of him as mine, too.

He grew up in a time of camera phone.  I have hundreds of pictures of him.  He was a photogenic cuss.

He was a good dog.

I've looked at the last one in line here, or some version of it, a couple dozen times in the past couple of days, and it makes me wan to cry every time.

Max was my buddy.  I'm gonna miss him.

Dig

There isn't much that takes the shine off things like having to dig a grave for your dog.

He's not my dog.  He belongs to my parents.

I don't get to own a dog.  I'm not home enough.  It'd be cruel to keep one cooped up here.

So, I claim others' dogs.

Max is 14.  He's blind.  He's been falling down a lot.  Like I said, the folks will check to see if anything can be done.  But, he's been in some pain, so we may have to say goodbye.

Damn it.

Planet Hulk, and whatnot

I've had Age of Ultron on in the background this morning, as I've been cleaning.

The movie has a couple major flaws.  Gutting Black Widow's character is bullshit.  I'm not sure how you do that, except that you don't do that.  Her "They made me a monster" speech is abhorrent.  And it serves no purpose.  I choose to forget that entire section of this flick.  Comics have always allowed you to create your own canon.  I do in this case, as it regards Black Widow.

What has my attention here, though, is Hulk.

I've probably written about this before.  But I can't help but think what a lost opportunity this was for the character, and for Universal, who still owns the movie rights.

Let's look at the climax of the flick....Here there be spoilers, by the way.

The Avengers are looking to destroy Ultron's machine.  The story kinda telegraphs the whole Vision with Mjolnir taking out Ultron thing.  Why not add a level to that.  Thor calls for Vision.  Ultron knocks them both asunder.

Ultron is having his moment of glory.  Iron Man is yelling that somebody needs to take the shot from on top.

Have Hulk come bounding in.  He takes out Ultron's bot.  He gets Thor and Vision to safety...perhaps having Vision wake up to fly Thor.  Then, in a truly terrific moment, Hulk becomes worthy to heft the hammer because he is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.  He lifts Mjolnir, and destroys Ultron's machine.

And disappears.

The sting at the end of the credits will have Thor standing at Asgard, looking up, and having Mjolnir appear from the sky.  He will know The Hulk is out there somewhere.

In the meantime, you can have Universal put a kickass Planet Hulk movie together that would release this summer, as a bit of "meanwhile, on the other side of the Universe" twinbill with Captain America: Civil War.

And you can have Planet Hulk lead right into Thor Ragnarok.

I dunno.  I really love the Planet Hulk story from the comics.  I really think they could have done a lot more with Hulk and Black Widow.  Hell, with proper writing, you could have Black Widow go along with Hulk, and work Black Widow into that Planet Hulk story.  This way, you have a couple long standing characters sacrificing themselves for the team, instead of Quicksilver, who knew the team for all of a day and a half.....

That's a little selfserving, too.  I always liked the conflict within Pietro Maximoff in the comics, and think he's too good a character to just off.  Still, if memory serves, there's something in the whole deal with Fox, so that they might use Quicksilver in the X-Men movies as well...

Cubs 2016

Dear Online Nerd Diary:

This weekend, I went to Atlanta to see the Cubs play the Braves.  I've refrained from writing about the Cubs, out of irrational yet omnipresent fear that I am some manner of jinx if I mention them online.  My fears were somewhat assuaged after seeing them play live.

This was the last time I'll likely see them at Turner Field.  That's 99% assured, and assumes that the Braves don't reel off 90 wins out of their next 110 games to make it back into the playoff picture.

Allow me to speak on that:  it is sad to know that a perfectly good structure like Turner Field will be left to history (and local college teams) after just 21 years.  I may not be a Braves fan (I'm more of a well-wisher, owing to their geographic proximity and broadcast presence).  I have seen a ton of baseball at Turner Field, though.  It's a fine baseball stadium.  I don't know the issues.  It seems wasteful to let it go...even more so for tax payers up the road helping foot the bill for a new one.

That said?  One of the things over the past several seasons that has kept me from attending a Braves game on a whim is not wanting to drive through Atlanta.  Having the team play their games up in Marietta will be pretty sweet, from a drive-time standpoint.....

The Cubs were fun this weekend.  They lost Friday, a game I didn't get to see.  Saturday's contest, they won 8-2, on the strength of several dingers.  Today was a beatdown, 13-2, with almost everybody getting in on the act.

I'm crazy tired.  About 12 hours of driving over the last 2 days, on top of what was easily the most ridiculous week since the last ridiculous week.  I'm going to sleep for 10 hours tonight!!!!

The Magnificent Seven

We understand. You could make much more in a grocery store. And it would be good, steady work. 

Watching The Magnificent Seven tonight.  Haven't watched it in years.  Accidentally ordered it from Amazon.  I'd looked at the BluRay one night a couple weeks ago.  Then, went to order something else, and clicked through all the screens as irresponsibly as one could.

A couple days later, I got a note that my Amazon order with "The Magnificent Seven" and one other item had shipped.  Got worried that some sort of shenanigans was on.  The realized my error.

Anyway.  It was a good purchase, and a bit of a gift to myself and my addlepated mind.

Still, the conversation Chris and Vin have, convincing Vin to join Chris's little Fly-Shooing expedition, where the villagers assuage Vin's doubts....you could make much more in a grocery store...hit a little hard.

I've been down lately.  Work has a lot to do with it.  Tired.  Scheduling has gotten difficult.  I feel like I'm missing out on a lot more lately than even I did a few months back.  And I've felt like I've missed out on a lot the last handful of years.....